Now held every 20 years, the Guild dates back to the 12th century when local merchants were given exceptional rights and privileges which they celebrated once a generation. From this profitable but exclusive cartel, the event gradually developed into a communal bigging up of the town – now city – with the help of processions, fairgrounds, tightrope-walking by Blondin and balloon ascents.

This is a Guild Year and all manner of jollifications runs from Friday 31 August to Sunday 9 September, adding three days to the traditional week to mark Preston's first decade with city status. Described in the 18th century as "a pretty town with an abundance of gentry in it, commonly called Proud Preston", the place has rediscovered its self-confidence after the long decline of textiles.

Katherine Jenkins. Olympic ambassador and now singing it for Preston. Photograph: PA

The 2012 programme mixes strict tradition such as the opening of the Guild Court on the Monday after the Feast of the Beheading of St John the Baptist (which falls today, Wednesday 29 August, in case you wondered). Things also have to end with a ceremonial service and proclamation, but in between you can catch the The Human League, Proms in the Park with Katherine Jenkins, Jose Carreras and the Manchester Camerata and a vast amount else.

You can also take the opportunity to finish a sentence about Preston which starts: 'Then the city...' in an exercise to involve local people and visitors in planning:

the best, most liveable small city that there can be

The local organisation They Eat Culture is running a pop-up office in St George's Centre to talk, draw and imagine Preston's future, both in terms of the cityscape and what might go in on within it.

The idea, which you can also follow online here was dreamed up after research from Arts Council England placed the city an unacceptably lowly 17th on a table of 'culturally engaged' communities in the UK. Preston likes to be first – hence the 'proud' tag – and that's what TEC wants to see. They say:

City Counselling sessions will see passers-by drawn in and invited to leave their thoughts; either by recording them in an audio booth, writing them on a blog, scrawling them on a wall, or having their ideas sketched out by TEC's resident shop artists.

The project will continue throughout Autumn and beyond, asking questions about life in Preston, finding out about what its citizens want to do and see, and learning about how people want to shape the city.

The pop-up will also show details of another TEC project already under way - Preston 3Twenty, which uses three writers to create a story starting in 1972, handed on to the next author with a setting in 2012 and finished by a third whose contribution begins in the Preston they imagine in 2072. The stories will be presented during the Guild celebrations in four different formats: live performance, print, product, and digital instillation but are designed to continue being adapted until 2032 bringing, as TEC aptly says, "Longevity to the project."

This could well add a third piece of instant recognition to any precis of the city, if TEC's ambitions are realised. They see:

Preston 3Twenty not just beginning in 2012 and ending at the next Preston Guild in 2032, but in the intervening years engaging and delighting audiences with a portmanteau tale of Preston future, Preston past, and Preston present. Each year another three writers will take up the baton and so the story will continue.

But it's more than that. We want to get all Preston writing and telling stories: it won't just be writers writing about the city – the city will be writing about itself. Words and stories will be stamped onto the city: onto the buildings, parks and streets, on the billboards and bus tickets. Together, we will imagine and create what Preston will be like in 20 years time.

TEC's pop-Up exhibition & workspace is on the 1st Floor of the St George's Centre 1-9 September 10.30am-5.30pm. All details of the mighty Guild are here.